Apple announces AirPods Max, over-ear headphones with noise cancellation, available from December 15 for $549
Apple today introduced new wireless over-ear headphones called AirPods Max, with key features including high-fidelity audio, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, and spatial audio.
Uber's self-driving unit, Advanced Technologies Group, to be acquired by rival Aurora Innovation in a deal valuing ATG at $4B; source: Aurora now valued at $10B
- Self-driving vehicle start-up Aurora is acquiring Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, which works on self-driving technology.
Apple announces AirPods Max, over-ear headphones with noise cancellation, adaptive EQ, spatial audio, and audio sharing, available from December 15 for $549
The first over-ear headphones with an Apple logo on them — It turns out Apple has one more major hardware announcement …
Cloudflare and Apple say they have developed a new protocol called Oblivious DNS-over-HTTPS, which decouples DNS queries from internet users for more privacy
Engineers at Cloudflare and Apple say they've developed a new internet protocol that will shore up one of the biggest holes …
Google says Stadia users will be able to live stream directly to YouTube starting December 8
Finally fulfilling its biggest original promise — From the very beginning, Google Stadia and YouTube were supposed to work together — thanks to the magic of cloud computing …
China bans TripAdvisor from its app store along with 104 apps it said were violating cyber-laws aimed at fighting pornography, gambling, and violence
China has removed 105 apps from its app stores as part of a campaign to get rid of content related to pornography, prostitution, gambling and violence.
Samsung's SmartThings will support Google Nest devices starting in January 2021
Support for Nest products through the SmartThings app arrives next month — Google and Samsung are bringing their smart home platforms together for the first time. Samsung's SmartThings …
SpaceX's Starlink satellite network wins $885M in federal aid for rural broadband, as part of a $9.2B allocation by FCC to be paid across 180 auction bidders
SpaceX's Starlink satellite network — which relies on hundreds of spacecraft built in Redmond, Wash. — has been awarded $885.5 million …
Researchers detail vulnerabilities found in four open source TCP/IP stacks used in millions of embedded IoT devices, collectively called Amnesia:33
Amnesia:33 is the latest in a long line of vulnerabilities that affect countless embedded devices. — YES, AT THIS point it's a cliche that cheap …
Facebook adds carts to WhatsApp, allowing users to add multiple items from a business to the cart then send the order request as a message to the business
WhatsApp said on Tuesday it is adding a new shopping feature to its business app as the Facebook -owned instant messaging service looks …
An internal Huawei document, found on its website: Huawei tested facial recognition with an “Uighur alarm” to alert Chinese police when it detected Uighurs
An internal report claims the face-scanning system could trigger a “Uighur alarm,” sparking concerns that the software …
Apple says Fitness+, its workout class subscription service, will launch on December 14 in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand
Apple has today announced that its fitness subcription service, Apple Fitness+, is set to launch on Monday, December 14.
Nvidia researchers have created an augmentation method for training generative adversarial networks that they say enables results with 10 to 20 times less data
Nvidia researchers have created an augmentation method for training generative adversarial networks (GANs) that requires less data.
Airbnb launches Airbnb.org, letting hosts provide free and discounted stays to refugees, essential workers, and people affected by natural disasters
Hosts on the platform can provide free and discounted stays as in-kind donations — Airbnb is launching a nonprofit to allow the hosts …
Sources: Apple is preparing new Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros for as early as spring 2021; full Mac transition will finish in 2022
Google starts rolling out Apple Music support to Assistant smart speakers and displays, including its Nest products, in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan
Dan Seifert / The Verge :
Beyond Identity, which uses certificates to provide passwordless identity management, raises $75M Series B, bringing its total raised to $105M
Beyond Identity, a New York-based startup developing passwordless identity management solutions, raised $75 million in venture capital.
Israeli startup Orca Security, which provides security for multi-cloud deployments on AWS, Azure, and GCP, raises $55M Series B led by ICONIQ Growth
Israeli cloud security firm Orca Security today announced a $55 million Series B funding round led by ICONIQ Growth.
Calm, maker of a meditation, sleep, and relaxation app, raises $75M at a $2B valuation, bringing its total raised to $217M
- Insight, Marc Benioff also participated in $75 million round — San Francisco-based firm's app has 4 million paying users
MicroStrategy, which was the first publicly traded company to invest in bitcoin and, as of Dec. 4, held 40,824 BTC, is raising up to $400M in debt to buy more
Kristine Owram / Bloomberg :
French court sentences BTC-e founder Alexander Vinnik to five years in prison for laundering ransomware funds, following the Russian national's arrest in 2017
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet :
Salt Security, which develops tools that discover APIs and detect vulnerabilities, raises $30M Series B led by Sequoia Capital
Salt Security, which is developing a threat protection solution that discovers APIs and detects vulnerabilities, today raised $30 million.
Sources: Airbnb plans to boost the proposed price range of its IPO to between $56 and $60 a share, which equates to a valuation of $39B to $42B, fully diluted
among @Airbnb investors and executives—are men.’ We need to break the closed loop of white guys talking to white guys about other white guys = closed loop of white guy enrichment, to open up funding &...
GoHenry, which offers a pre-paid card and finance app for 6-18 year olds, raises $40M led by Edison Partners
Young people have long been a prime, if especially careful, target for financial services companies: find the right and responsible way to connect with them, and you could have a good customer for man...
In a new era of video ushered in by TikTok, real-time interactivity is baked into viewing experiences, which may lead to shifts in education, shopping, and more
Social Strikes Back is a series exploring the next generation … Stephen E. Arnold / Beyond Search : Venture Outfit Explains Obsolescence to Main Stream Media, Amazon Twitch, and Google YouTube Andrees...
Cuemath, which provides online math tutoring and after-school classes in India, raises $40M Series C from investors, including Capital G and Sequoia
CodeSignal raises $25M Series B led by Menlo Ventures to automate technical assessments and reduce recruitment bias
CodeSignal, a platform that helps recruiters prescreen software development candidates through automated technical assessments, has raised $25 million in a series B round of funding led by Menlo Ventu...
Dragos, which helps secure critical industrial infrastructure like power plants, raises $110M Series C
Cybersecurity firm Dragos has raised $110 million in its Series C, almost triple the amount that it raised two years ago in its last round. — Dragos was founded in 2016 to detect …
Sundae, which has built a marketplace for distressed properties, raises $36M Series B led by QED Investors
Opendoor has opened the door, so to speak, for startups to apply their technical expertise in search, marketplaces and audience segmentation to rethink the very antiquated and analogue world of proper...
SingleStore, which provides an SQL-based service to help enterprises parse and use data from disparate silos, raises $80M Series E led by Insight Partners
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
A look at Waymo's driverless taxi service, in Phoenix suburb Chandler, which seems to work well but still only offers ~100 rides/week and limits cars to 45 mph
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica :
Sources: a Foxconn facility in Mexico was hit by ransomware in Nov., resulting in website outage and business docs leaked, as the attackers demand a $34M ransom
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer :
Profile of Phil Weiser, a law professor, antitrust expert, and Colorado's AG who is co-leading the bipartisan coalition of state AGs investigating Google
Sydney-based shipping logistics service Shippit raises ~$22M Series B to help fuel its expansion in Southeast Asia
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Palantir wins a three-year deal worth $44.4M with the FDA to use Palantir software to power drug reviews and inspections, including possible COVID-19 treatments
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg :
DealShare, which incentivizes consumers with discounts and cashbacks for sharing deals on products, raises $21M, bringing its total raised to $34M
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Cisco says it will buy UK-based IMImobile, which helps companies keep track of and interact with users, for ~$721M
Linus Chua / Bloomberg :
Outfund, which provides revenue-based financing to online businesses to fund growth without giving away equity, raises £37M led by Fuel Ventures
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch :
On December 4, a hacker forced open 2,732 package lockers across Moscow operated by local delivery service PickPoint using an unidentified exploit
After Google's announcement in May that it would start blocking “heavy” ads in Chrome, it is now blocking some ads that publishers sell if they hog resources
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab : See also Mediagazer
By July, Chinese banks and trust companies had ~$230B in outstanding loans to users who borrowed via Alipay, a factor in new regulatory scrutiny of Ant Group
Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @melt_dem , @melt_dem , @melt_dem , @robertalanward , @jingyanghk , and @jchengwsj Tweets: Meltem Demirors / @melt_dem : 1/ the scale of FinTech in China is mind blowing...
Tecton.ai raises $35M Series B co-led by a16z and Sequoia Capital as it releases its ML feature store, just a week after AWS debuted its Sagemaker Feature store
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.